My Life in France: Fin

Alas, all good things must come to an end. As Julia Child was close to reaching 80, her dear friend and co-author Simca died, 3 years after Jean, her husband. Paul Child, who was 10 years older than Julia, was having heart problems and could no longer travel and lived in a nursing home. With all of this in mind, Julia had one last decision to make. Should she give up their little French house in Providence, where they lived many months out of the year to escape from the business of the United States? Julia's niece, Phila didn't want her to give up the place. She explains "The house was filled with familiar smells and memories" (330). The thought of giving up the one last safe haven that the family really had was a sad thought, but Julia decided that it was just impractical to keep it any longer. Julia writes, "Without Paul to share the house with, or my grande cherie Simca, or all of our favorite friends and family, it had come time to relinquish La Pitchoune" (329). The place was not what it had once been, not without her friends or family. Julia felt that it was better to let the place go. But she was not letting go of France. She comments "France was my spiritual homeland: it had become part of me, and I part of it" (332). No matter what happened, she would always hold on the France and what she had learned there.

Throughout the book, Julia Child has been faced with many ethical decisions. The decision to let go of the house was probably the least difficult to make, given that almost all of her French friends were dead and her husband was unable to travel. Yet it was still a big decision and one that was hard to give the final ok on, since the place held so many memories. Julia couldn't have passed it on to anyone in her family, because the land was only leased, not owned. So I guess I agree with her decision, and I doubt that there are many, if any that disagree. But no matter if we know that it is right or wrong, decisions like these are always hard, because you are giving up a piece of your live.